"Protect them from what? Is there really a bear out there, too?" Bella’s forehead was furrowed in confusion.

I looked at her funny. "Bella, honey, we only protect people from one thing–our one enemy. It's the reason we exist–because they do." She stared at me blankly for a few seconds, before realization dawned on her face. Then all the color drained from her face and a hoarse cry broke through her lips. I reached out to steady her. "I thought you, of all people, would realize what was really going on."

"Laurent," she whispered so softly that I could barely hear her. "He's still here."

I blinked twice and cocked my head. "Who's Laurent?"

Bella paused and gulped before answering. "You know–you saw him in the meadow. You were there…" She looked up at me suddenly, understanding dawning in her eyes. “You were there, and you kept him from killing me…"

"Oh, the black-haired leech?" I grinned fiercely as I nodded my head. "Was that his name?"

"What were you thinking?" she almost shouted at me. "He could have killed you! Jake, you don't realize how dangerous–"

I laughed before I could help it. Her lack of faith in us would have been insulting if I wasn’t so damn thrilled about how this morning was going. "Bella, one lone vampire isn't much of a problem for a pack as big as ours. It was so easy, it was hardly even fun!"

"What was so easy?" she asked in amazement.

"Killing the bloodsucker who was going to kill you. Now, I don't count that towards the

whole murder thing," I added quickly in case she was going to go there. "Vampires don't count as people."

"You… killed… Laurent?" Bella barely seemed to be able to get the words out. Her body was rigid from shock.

I nodded. "Well, it was a group effort.”

"Laurent is dead?" she whispered again with the strangest expression on her face.

“You're not upset about that, are you? He was going to kill you–he was going for the kill, Bella, we were sure of that before we attacked. You know that, right?"

"I know that. No, I'm not upset–I'm…" She stumbled and plopped back down on the driftwood log, in an attempt to gather her thoughts. "Laurent is dead. He's not coming back for me."

"You're not mad? He wasn't one of your friends –“ I could barely get out that word. The thought of Bella being friends with a vampire was enough to set my blood boiling again, “-or anything, was he?"

"My friend?" she looked up at me, confused but definitely not angry. "No, Jake. I'm so… so relieved. I thought he was going to find me–I've been waiting for him every night, just hoping that he'd stop with me and leave Charlie alone. I've been so frightened, Jacob… But how? He was a vampire! How did you kill him? He was so strong, so hard, like marble…"

Thankful that we were on the same page, I sat down next to her and pulled her into my arms again.

"It's what we're made for, Bells. We're strong, too. I wish you would have told me that you were so afraid. You didn't need to be."

"You weren't around," she mumbled into my shoulder. It was a statement of fact, not an accusation.

"Oh, right."

"Wait, Jake–I thought you knew, though. Last night, you said it wasn't safe for you to be in my room. I thought you knew that a vampire might be coming. Isn't that what you were talking about?"

I was confused for a moment, then I remembered. “No, that's not what I meant."

"Then why didn't you think it was safe for you there?"

I looked up at her guiltily. I had to tell her the truth. She had to know the risks of hanging out with me. "I didn't say it wasn't safe for me. I was thinking of you."

"What do you mean?"

I looked away. "There's more than one reason I'm not supposed to be around you, Bella. I wasn't supposed to tell you our secret, for one thing, but the other part is that it's not safe for you. If I get too mad… too upset… you might get hurt."

Bella paused before asking, "When you were mad before… when I was yelling at you… and you were shaking… ?"

"Yeah." My face was growing hot in shame and self-disgust. "That was pretty stupid of me. I have to keep a better hold on myself. I swore I wasn't going to get mad, no matter what you said to me. But… I just got so upset that I was going to lose you… that you couldn't deal with what I am…"

"What would happen… if you got too mad?" she whispered as she grabbed my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

I turned to look at her. "I'd turn into a wolf," I whispered back, not letting her break eye contact. She needed to know the truth.

Her lips quirked a little as she asked, "You don't need a full moon?"

I rolled my eyes. "Hollywood's version doesn't get much right." But I sighed in relief. She didn’t seem like she wanted to flee again. "You don't need to be so stressed out, Bells. We're going to take care of this. And we're keeping a special eye on Charlie and the others–we won't let anything happen to him. Trust me on that."

Bella’s body suddenly went rigid and her jaw dropped, as if she had finally pieced something together. "Laurent is dead.”

"Yes?” I responded anxiously, I thought we had just gone through this.

"If Laurent died… a week ago… then someone else is killing people now."

I nodded with my teeth clenched. The pack was getting pretty frustrated with our inability to catch the red-headed mate. "There were two of them. We thought his mate would want to fight us–in our stories, they usually get pretty pissed off if you kill their mate–but she just keeps running away, and then coming back again. If we could figure out what she was after, it would be easier to take her down. But she makes no sense. She keeps dancing around the edges, like she's testing our defenses, looking for a way in–but in where? Where does she want to go? Sam thinks she's trying to separate us, so she'll have a better chance…"

All the color drained out of Bella’s face. She slumped over and I caught her just before she would have slipped off the log. Her whole body was convulsing and shaking like a leaf.

"Bella! What's wrong?"

"Victoria," she managed to say between half-breaths.

I pulled her onto my lap so that I could better assess the situation. She clung to me seeking warmth and stability. I held her tightly and felt her body slowly begin to relax against mine. She was breathing a little more steadily now, though I could barely tell since she had her face buried into my chest. If I wasn’t so freaked out about what was going with her, I would have been freaking out about how amazing it felt to have her pressed against me and in my arms. And how it seemed so natural for her to be there.

"Who?" I asked, jolted back into our conversation again as Bella sniffed loudly. "Can you hear me, Bella? Bella?"

"She wasn't Laurent's mate," she whispered hoarsely, her face still buried into my chest. "They were just old friends…"

"Do you need some water? A doctor? Tell me what to do," I persisted.

"I'm not sick–I'm scared," she explained, her voice still muffled.

I patted her back soothingly, "Scared of this Victoria?" She nodded but didn’t respond. "Victoria is the red-haired female?" Bella trembled before nodding again. "How do you know she wasn't his mate?"

"Laurent told me James was her mate," she explained softly.

I put my hands on her face and forced her to look up at me. I stared intently into her eyes. "Did he tell you anything else, Bella? This is important. Do you know what she wants?"

“Of course,” she whispered softly. "She wants me."

I barely clamped down on the rage in time. Bella. In danger. If anything was going to cause me to lose control, that would be it. “Why?” I demanded through clenched teeth.

"Edward killed James," she responded, burying her face back into my neck. "She did get… pissed off. But Laurent said she thought it was fairer to kill me than Edward. Mate for mate. She didn't know–still doesn't know, I guess–that… that…" She swallowed hard before continuing. "That things aren't like that with us anymore. Not for Edward, anyway."

I closed my eyes but I couldn’t stop the emotions from racing through me. I felt torn in so many directions – fear for Bella’s safety, hatred for vampires, frustration over not having been able to catch Victoria yet, and now jealousy over that Cullen guy - it was all jumbled inside me creating a potent mix of emotions that was liable to set me off with the slightest provocation.

I counted to ten slowly as I took some deep breaths. That’s what Sam always told us to do when we thought we were getting too heated. I held Bella tightly in my arms – too tightly – but for once, she didn’t protest.

"Is that what happened?” My voice broke slightly but I continued, “Is that why the Cullens left?"

"I'm nothing but a human, after all. Nothing special," she explained weakly with a sad smile.

I half-choked and half-growled. What a jerk. What a damn *sshole. If I ever found him, I’d rip him to shreds for what he had done to her. Turning her into this broken shell of herself. "If that idiot bloodsucker is honestly stupid enough–"

"Please," she moaned as she burrowed deeper into my arms. I could feel her shaking again. "Please. Don't."

I hesitated, wanting to continue, to reassure her about how special she was. How amazing and wonderful she was. To tell her that over and over again until she finally believed it herself. But I knew that the timing wasn’t right. She wasn’t ready. And there were more important things at stake right now. Like protecting her from the red-haired leech. Bella had given us more info about this … Victoria. And it would help tremendously in our hunt.

“This is important,” I said calmly. I now had a renewed sense of purpose. I had to catch the damn red-headed bloodsucker before she got to Bella. I also recognized that I was looking for a way to effectively channel all of my heightened emotions over what was going on between me and Bella. "This is exactly what we needed to know. We've got to tell the others right away."

I stood quickly and pulled Bella to her feet. I kept my hands around her waist until I was sure that she was steady on her legs.

“I’m okay,” she said, but I knew better than to believe her. I put a finger under her chin and lifted her up head up so I could assess her state myself. She did look somewhat better and that was enough for now. I bent and kissed her softly on her forehead as I smoothed her ruffled hair back from her face.

"Let's go,” I took her hand as I started to pull her back towards the parking lot where the Chevy was parked.

“Where are we going?” she asked

"I'm not sure yet," I admitted as I stopped mid-stride. But I knew deep-down what I had to do. I had to tell Sam. And face up to the consequences of telling Bella our secret. "Wait a second, I need to call a meeting. Just sit here for just a minute, okay?"

She looked at me skeptically but I just pushed her back towards the driftwood log before taking off towards the forest that bordered the beach.

“Where are you going?” she shouted after me. “Jacob!”

“I’ll be right back,” I promised as I sprinted into the cover of the trees, picking up speed, trying to put enough distance between us. I heard her call my name again. It was the last thing I heard before I phased.

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